The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, October 5, 1990 Page: 4 of 16
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4 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1990 THE RICE THRESHER
Revealing Agents of Influence levels main criticism at Americans
by Kurt Moeller
Agents of Influence
by Pat Choate
Alfred A. Knopf, New York
©1990, 295 pp. $22.95
Pat Choate's book,/4g«ifc of Influ-
ence, reveals the startling amount of
political influence in America pos-
sessed by Japan. The book criticizes
the Japanese for their obsessiveness
about penetrating America while
keeping their own country closed,
both economically and politically,
but it readily acknowledges they are
only playing by the rules in today's
American political scene. Choate's
main complaint in this well-docu-
mcnted and revealing book is with
America, especially the political elite
whose attitude has created a climate
where influence is for sale to the
highest bidder.
Choate has penned a book that is
informative for both political elites
and the general public, who will be
quite bored in its more detailed or
more technical parts. Choate, re-
cently forced to resign as vice-presi-
dent for policy analysis at TRW be-
cause of the controversy surround-
ing the publication of this book, di-
vides it into five sections. The first
compares the attitudes of policy-
makers in Japan and America, the
middle three examine ways Japan
affects American policy, and the final
one contains his recommendations
for change.
Why Japanese — and in fact, all
foreign — influence should bother
Americans is because economics are
not separate from politics, the Wash-
ington insider claims. "For those
companies that want to succeed in
the 1990s, producing the best is no
longer good enough....In today's
economy, what cannot be won in the
marketplace can be acquired
through brute political power in the
back halls of government," he
writes.
Choate examines in detail the
collapse of the U.S. television indus-
try in the 1970s, when "faced with
[Japanese] cartel's anti-competitive
behavior, the American govern-
ment refused to mount an antitrust
suit and it actively opposed those
filed by private American compa-
nies." He also tells of the continuing
fight between a small American
company, Fusion Systems, and
Japanese industrial giant Mitsub-
ishi, over a high-power industrial
lamp that Fusion invented.
"Over the next decade [ 1977-S7],
Mitsubishi flooded Japan's Patent
Office with some 257 applications
surrounding the technology in the
Fusion lamp. If success-
ful...Mitsubishi could actually pre-
vent Fusion from selling its own
products to Japan." But the U.S.
government did hardly anything to
help Fusion. Why? Because one of
the closest friends of U.S. Trade
Representative Clayton Yeutterwas
a lobbyist for Mitsubishi and other
Japanese firms.
In other cases, the policymak-
ing officials may have recently
served as foreign agents or may be
leaving soon to do so. The average
length political appointees serve is
18 months, and "between 1973 and
1990, one-third of the USTR officials
who held principal trade positions
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left to become registered foreign
agents."
This revolving-door lobbying is
pervasive in all of Washington,
which Choate shows in an appendix
BO
rim
§K
lew
of more than 200 former high-rank-
ing officials who became foreign
agents after leaving those posts. The
officials brought with them inside
connections, specialized knowl-
edge. and the prestige of their for-
mer positions. And now some who
lobbied for foreign interests, such as
Republican National Committee
Chairman Lee Atwater, Democratic
National Committee Chairman Ron
Brown, and USTR Carla Hills, have
returned to the highest levels of
American political influence.
One danger, he quotes Washing-
ton lawyer Harry McPherson as say-
ing, is that "most lobbyists are not
born with a position on catalytic con-
verters. In developing the argument
for their client's position, they often
convince themselves of the truth."
The other danger is that these ex-
officials are frequently represented,
especially in the media, as neutral
experts rather than hired guns.
Choate details many examples of
this; and in an article in the New
Republic in January which ad-
dressed the same subject, John Judis
wrote, "Of major national publica-
tions, only Business Week consis-
tently ferrets out potential conflicts
of interest."
Potential conflicts are also abun-
dant in think tanks and universities,
reports Choate. Chalmers Johnson,
an expert on the Ministry of Interna-
tional Trade and Industiy from the
University of California at San Di-
ego, reports that Japan funds three-
fourths of the research about Japan.
While academics may not be directly
influenced, those critical of Japan are
isolated from money while pro-Japan
ones see expanding programs and
prestige. And they unquestionably
slant public debate because they are
not the truly independent scholars
the public believes they are, Choate
correctly contends.
"The United States has to decide
how to respond to what Akio Morita
and Shintaro Ishihara in The Japan
That Can Say No candidly call 'eco-
nomic warfare,' but it's hard for
Americans to have a meaningful de-
bate when Japan and its lobbyists
have acquired such extensive influ-
ence over the debate itself," Judis
wrote.
Even people at the state and local
levels have begun lobbying for Japa-
nese-held positions, thanks to wide-
spread—and expensive—efforts by
Japanese companies with communi-
ties where it has established strong
business ties, Choate says. And "the
deeper America goes into debt, and
the more assets it sells, the louder
and more insistent [the foreign]
voice will be," he writes.
Reducing this immense need for
foreign capital is where Choate's so-
lution to the problems begin. Like
other solutions, it is aimed at Ameri-
cans, whose behavior is the basis of
foreign lobbyists power.
"The declining civic virtue de-
scribed in this book reflects an
American weakness. It is not the
result of villainy by the Japanese or
any other foreign interests," Choate
writes. "Any of the elites in Japan,
Korea, France, Germany, or Britain
who did the same would be consid-
ered, and treated, as social lepers."
American elites will not likely
change an attitude which has proven
so lucrative, so Choate proposes leg-
islation. He would restrict some top
officials from ever lobbying for or
aiding domestic or foreign compa-
nies, and extend the "cooling-off"
period for others. Saying "in politics,
sunshine is the best disinfectant,"
Choate would also require more
stringent disclosure of those work-
ing as lobbyists or agents for foreign
concerns and vastly increase the size
of the people who enforce such dis-
closures.
Many will severely condemn
Choate as anti-Japanese and will
claim his policy recommendations
will ruin the U.S-Japan relationship.
It won't, which is unfortunate, con-
sidering who really benefits from
that relationship.
Stevenson
attack
enacts
misogyny
To the editors:
Professor Paul Stevenson argues
that it's ludicrous to imagine the
study of physics is informed by "tra-
ditional male interests." His letter to,
the Thresher, however, enacts pre-
cisely that hostility to women which
he claims is non-existent. Steven-
son's need to attack Pam Walker and
her eloquent letter about Meg Perk-
ins is an all-too-familiar move. It's a
move which underscores the fact
that misogyny is alive and well at
Rice.
Thad Logan
Lecturer, Department of
English
KIDDER, FEABODY & CO.
Incorporated
cordially invites
RICE UNIVERSITY SENIORS
to attend a presentation of the two-year
FINANCIAL ANALYST PROGRAM
IN INVESTMENT BANKING
Wednesday, October 17,1990
7:00 - 9:00p.m.
The Farnsworth Pavilion
Reception to follow presentation.
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Moeller, Kurt & Yates, Jay. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, October 5, 1990, newspaper, October 5, 1990; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245763/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.